Application distribution platforms often offer a convenient and efficient way for users to discover, browse, and download computer applications. Unfortunately, some application distribution platforms may unknowingly host a variety of malicious and/or illegitimate applications. For example, a malicious application may masquerade as a legitimate application (e.g., by misappropriating the name of legitimate entities and/or displaying false credentials or reviews) in an attempt to lure unsuspecting users to download the same. Unfortunately, even if a malicious application has been previously identified as a security threat by a third-party anti-malware service, application distribution platforms may not have access to this information.
As a result, users of application distribution platforms may be unable to determine the trustworthiness of an application before downloading and/or installing the application onto their computing device. Therefore, application distribution platforms may expose users to malicious software that accesses personal data stored on a computing device, impairs the functionality of a computing device, and/or performs additional harmful behaviors. As such, the current disclosure identifies and addresses a need for more efficient and effective systems and methods for providing information identifying the trustworthiness of applications hosted by application distribution platforms.